« Call him a Blake of all trades | Main | Jhonny's on the spot »

Closing in on 89, he's still a heck of a Feller

Hello Tribe fans everywhere!

I'd love to go to spring training camp to see things you never see throughout the rest of the season. There's a note in a blog today by Plain Dealer baseball writer Paul Hoynes that says Bob Feller will report to camp on Thursday. It's only been 70 years since Feller's first spring training camp with Cleveland.

Every day before the regulars take the field, Feller will put on a uniform and play catch with young Indians in front of the dugout. Then, once the game begins, he'll head out to an area beyond the right field fence to sign autographs.

Feller will turn 89 later this year, but he looks and acts years younger. At the Indians fantasy camp in January, he faced 24 batters and surrendered only 4 runs on 8 hits. The man is 88 years old, yet he can still bring the heat.

Years ago, shortly after Ron Leonardi joined the Erie Times-News sports staff, we sent him to cover Feller's appearance at Ainsworth Field, prior to an Erie Cardinals game. In those days, when he was "only" 79, Feller used to pitch from the mound to half a dozen batters -- mostly reporters from local TV stations or newspapers.

On Feller's third or fourth pitch, Leonardi got pretty good wood on the ball and lined it foul, just over third base. Then he made the mistake ofglancing back at his friends and smiling. The next pitch from Feller put him on his kiester. We howled with laughter, seeing our friend and co-worker getting dusted off by a 79-year-old pitcher.

Of all the players who lost the prime of their careers to military service during World War II, Feller's time likely cost him 100 victories. Had he played those seasons, he probably would have finished with about 370 victories.

Feller can be cranky at times. I recall an interview I did with him the year that a 20-year-old Dwight Gooden broke his record as the youngest pitcher ever to post 20 wins in a season. Instead of muttering a few platitudes about Gooden, Feller snapped, "Yeah, he's won 20 this year, but will be win 24 next season, and 25 the year after that, and 26 the year after that? That's what I did!"

I remember thinking, what a sorehead. And I went back to the record book to see how much he was exaggerating. But he told the truth, and, ironically, he was right about Gooden, who never really fulfilled his potential.

The Indians are lucky to have a hall of famer like Feller to call upon when needed. And the thought of seeing him playing catch and then signing autographs makes me want to catch the next plane for Winter Haven.

***************
The answer to yesterday's quickie quiz is: Bob Feller. He and Casey Blake are both ranked in the top ten of Iowa's all-time great schoolboy stars.

Today's quiz: Name the player on the current Tribe team who claims to be the club's best PlayStation 2 player.

***************

-- Kevin Cuneo

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Please enter the security code you see here

About

This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on February 28, 2007 3:52 PM.

The previous post in this blog was Call him a Blake of all trades.

The next post in this blog is Jhonny's on the spot.

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

Powered by
Movable Type 3.35